MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A judge Friday rejected Karl Hess’ bid for a new trial for the murders of a father and daughter in Manitowoc.
Hess is serving back-to-back life sentences for the 2018 deaths of Richard and Jocelyn Miller.
Hess originally confessed to the murders, saying he needed money and believed there was some in home. The robbery then led to confrontations and the shooting deaths. He later recanted the confession, but was convicted by a jury.
Post-conviction motions claimed those statements should have been suppressed as his Miranda rights were violated, and his lawyers were ineffective.
But in a nine-page decision filed Friday, Judge Jerilyn Dietz rejected Hess’ arguments.
As to his Miranda rights:
Mr. Hess’ question about invoking his 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination is just that: a question. It is not an unequivocal invocation of that right. He never mentions wanting to remain silent. He wanted to defer talking, not refuse to talk. He never mentions being represented by counsel. His question was one of several he asked law enforcement as he decided, of his own free will, whether to answer questions or not. Mr. Hess was not in custody until he was formally informed he was not free to go and he was under arrest,” the ruling states.
As for his lawyers’ actions:
It is clear, then, that both lawyers reviewed all of Mr. Hess’ recorded statements with an eye to potential motions. They both identified this segment regarding questioning if officers could leave, and return the next day, as having been part of the recordings they reviewed. They both testified that they did not believe that was objectionable, that they did not believe the exchange transformed the interview into a custodial interrogation, and neither, during their independent review, felt a motion to suppress that portion of the statements would have been successful Therefore, the attorneys’ performance did not fall below acceptable professional levels, and the first prong of the Strickland test is not satisfied.
Hess is currently housed at the Waupun Correctional Institution, state records show.
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